Queen Masters Late Restarts To Become Kansas ARCA King

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – In four ARCA Menards Series races at the national level this season, Brenden Queen has gone from a late model guy to a bona fide success story on all types of racetracks.

Queen added to that narrative Friday night at Kansas Speedway by dominating the Tide 150, taking control of the field just past the one-third point and never relinquishing it afterward.

Nicknamed ‘Butterbean’, the 27-year-old from Chesapeake, Va., led the final 72 laps and survived three late restarts – including one in overtime – en route to his second career ARCA victory in just five series starts.

Though he had Joe Gibbs Racing’s William Sawalich at his right flank restart after restart in the closing stages, Queen never faltered and drove away to a .275-second victory in the one-lap shootout that decided the race in extra distance.

After a smoky burnout and raucous climb atop his No. 28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet, Queen climbed the catchfence in jubilation – akin to his Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway teammate Helio Castroneves’ famed ‘Spiderman’ celebration – before basking in the afterglow of his victory.

“Off Axis (Paint) put the mullet on the helmet, and that baby was flapping in the wind all night!” exclaimed Queen, who then tipped he had memories of the Phoenix Raceway win that slipped away from him on the last lap in March on his mind late as well.

“We haven’t had a waffle since February … and I know I let one get away in Phoenix. That was going through my head at the end there, but at the same time as a driver, I knew it was my opportunity to redeem myself,” Queen continued. “These guys work so hard on this race car and the only thing I could do to repay them for that was win tonight to thank them for all they do.

“In late models, I’m used to third-to-fourth (gear) on restarts … so going through the whole H-pattern (shifter) I was trying to manage the run on the last lap. (Spotter) Derek Kneeland did a great job coaching me and keeping me in the game. All I wanted was a shot in my career … and we’ve got it now.”

Though recent Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway winner Lawless Alan qualified on the General Tire Pole and led the first four circuits, it was Sawalich who had the hot hand early, charging to the inside and nipping out the lead on the fifth lap before quickly driving away from Alan.

Queen wasn’t about to let Sawalich get away, however, making the move to take second place from Alan on lap nine and setting off in hot pursuit of Sawalich’s No. 18 Starkey Toyota.

An all-green first half of the race allowed Queen’s car to come to him slowly but surely, and he found speed on the bottom groove of the 1.5-mile Kansas oval to close in on the top spot just past lap 30.

As the top two came up on the slower car of Ryan Vargas, who was running ninth and trying to stay on the lead lap at that point, Queen made his move as Sawalich stalled out slightly around the outside.

Queen drove through to the lead on lap 34, pulled away by four seconds prior to the scheduled halfway break, and never seemed seriously threatened despite the yellows that dotted the action late.

The first caution for incident waved with 19 to go, after Michael Maples spun down into the grass, setting up a sequence of late dashes that saw Queen pushed out to the lead by Alan each time.

Sawalich, meanwhile, struggled to get traction in the high lane and needed a lap – and sometimes two – to get his car fully wound up before he could go back to work and focus on offense instead of defense.

Thad Moffitt’s cut up across the nose of Lavar Scott in the race for fourth on lap 91 turned Moffitt hard into the outside wall, setting up the next restart with five laps left, and that sprint got all the way past the white flag before Isabella Robusto spun on the backstretch and pounded the inside wall.

Though Queen was just two corners away from the finish line at that point, the ferocity of Robusto’s impact forced the fourth and final caution of the race and led to the one-lap overtime dash that saw Queen hold serve and pull away to victory.

After reflecting on the late laps, Sawalich struggled to isolate one moment where he might have been able to wrest control back away from Queen to win the race himself.

“The first segment, we were just a little too loose on the long run, and the second segment we were a little bit too tight,” explained the 18-year-old. “We just didn’t have what it took tonight, but also didn’t have a bunch of help on restarts either. In the second line, it was a little tough to launch because you’d fight some wheel spin getting up to speed.

“Our Starkey Camry was pretty good, just not quite good enough.”

In his first ARCA start since last June, 2014 series champion Mason Mitchell made a last-lap move stick to steal third from his Venturini Motorsports teammate Alan, who faded to fourth.

Rev Racing’s Lavar Scott closed out the top five and unofficially retains a two-point edge over Alan in the point standings after four of the season’s 20 scheduled races.

Sixth through 10th at Kansas were Andy Jankowiak, Jason Kitzmiller, Lanie Buice, Spencer Gallagher, and Ryan Vargas, a NASCAR national series part-timer driving a second entry for Maples Motorsports.

The next national ARCA Menards Series event is Friday, May 23 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway.

The finish:

Race (105 laps, extended due to overtime): 1. 28-Brenden Queen; 2. 18-William Sawalich; 3. 25-Mason Mitchell; 4. 20-Lawless Alan; 5. 6-Lavar Scott; 6. 73-Andy Jankowiak; 7. 97-Jason Kitzmiller; 8. 2-Lanie Buice; 9. 23-Spencer Gallagher; 10. 67-Ryan Vargas; 11. 69-Miguel Gomes; 12. 99-Michael Maples; 13. 55-Isabella Robusto; 14. 31-Tim Goulet; 15. 06-Brayton Laster; 16. 46-Thad Moffitt; 17. 0-Kevin Hinckle; 18. 03-Alex Clubb; 19. 11-Mike Basham; 20. 12-Matt Kemp; 21. 9-Presley Sorah; 22. 17-Patrick Staropoli; 23. 48-Brad Smith; 24. 10-Nate Moeller; 25. 68-Will Kimmel; 26. Brian Clubb.

Lap Leader(s): Lawless Alan 1-4, William Sawalich 5-33, Brenden Queen 34-105.

Cautions: Four for 22 laps

Time of Race: One hour, 18 minutes, 5.215 seconds

Average Speed: 121.019 mph